Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve: What to Know About Papagayo's Newest Landmark

Nekajui is the most talked-about opening on Peninsula Papagayo in years, and for good reason. It is the first Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Central or South America, only the eighth in the world, and it landed on this coast with a level of ambition the region has not seen before. The name comes from a Chorotega word for lush garden, and the whole place is built around that idea.

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If you are planning a trip to the peninsula, Nekajui is worth understanding, whether you stay there or not. Here is what it actually is, what is worth experiencing, and how our villa guests fold the best of it into their week.

What Nekajui Is

Ritz-Carlton runs two tiers. There are Ritz-Carlton hotels, which most people know, and there is Ritz-Carlton Reserve, a far smaller and more exclusive collection of properties designed to feel singular to their location. There are only a handful of Reserves on earth. Nekajui is the newest, and the first anywhere in Latin America.

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It sits woven into the hillside above Pochote Bay, on the quieter side of the peninsula, with 107 ocean-facing rooms, suites, and three treetop tents. The architecture is a modern take on the Guanacaste hacienda, built from local stone and wood, with Chorotega-inspired details throughout. Guests arrive through La Casita, a village-style entrance, into La Casona, the open-air great room that frames the coastline. An iconic hanging bridge connects the two sides of the resort.

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Two features tend to stop people. La Capilla, the resort's chapel, is finished with 650,000 hand-laid mosaic tiles. And Villa Guayacan, its ten-bedroom private residence, sits at the very top of the property as one of the most exclusive homes on the peninsula.

The Dining

This is the part worth paying attention to even if you never book a room, because several of Nekajui's restaurants are open to guests staying elsewhere on the peninsula, and they are among the best on it.

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Puna is the headline. Chef Diego Muñoz's modern Peruvian restaurant is, in our view, the most ambitious cooking on Peninsula Papagayo, and it is the one reservation we tell guests to make before they even land. Paruro, tucked inside Puna, is a six-seat omakase with a single nightly seating, the table to book for an occasion. Niri Beach Club, down at the water and reached by a small funicular, does Iberian cooking grounded in Costa Rican ingredients and makes for one of the best lunches on the coast. Ámbar, an open-air bar suspended in the trees, is arguably the finest sunset spot on the peninsula. Café Rincón handles coffee, pastries, and Costa Rica's cacao heritage. And Mirador, set high above the resort, is a destination breakfast with a view worth the climb.

There is also a hidden speakeasy called Cooper's, behind the check-in desk at Puna. You have to ask.

Read More: Where to Eat on Peninsula Papagayo

The Spa and Wellness

The Spa at Nekajui is built around ancestral healing traditions and the rhythms of the surrounding forest, the kind of program that treats wellness as the reason for the trip rather than an add-on. For guests who want a serious spa day as part of their week, it is a genuine draw, and it is set in one of the more beautiful natural settings you will find for it.

How Villa Guests Use Nekajui

Here is the honest framing. Nekajui is a spectacular resort, and if a hotel room is what you want, it is one of the best on the coast. But a lot of our guests want something Nekajui is not designed to give a family or a group: a whole house, a private pool of their own, a kitchen, and the run of the peninsula without a resort's rhythm.

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The good news is that you do not have to choose between them in the way it might seem. Staying in a villa on the peninsula puts Nekajui's best parts within reach. You can book dinner at Puna, take a sunset at Ámbar, spend a lunch at Niri, or arrange a treatment at The Spa, then go home to a private house rather than a room down a corridor. You get the singular thing Nekajui does, the cooking, the setting, the design, without giving up the space and privacy of a villa.

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Our concierge handles the reservations at Nekajui's restaurants, which book out in the dry season, so the table is waiting when you arrive.

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That is how we think about all of the peninsula's resorts, honestly. They built remarkable things here. A villa is simply the most comfortable base from which to enjoy them.

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Some places deserve more than a hotel, even a very good one. If you are planning a trip and want the best of Nekajui without staying in a hotel room, reach out through thesmartvillas.com and we will build the week around it.

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